Shisui's Death

"Lord Danzo, what did you need me for? The memorial gathering is about to begin, and I have to get over there," Uchiha Shisui said, looking at Danzo.

"Are you sure you can use Kotoamatsukami to put a stop to the Uchiha coup? A suspicious man like me isn't going to take your word for it, so hand over your eyes." As he spoke, Danzo reached for Uchiha Shisui's right eye.

"Th—" Uchiha Shisui activated his Sharingan and instantly immobilized Danzo. Clearly, Shisui had been prepared for this.

"Lord Danzo, it's just an ordinary genjutsu. It'll wear off on its own in a little while." With that, Uchiha Shisui turned and walked away.

Just then, Danzo's fist slammed into Uchiha Shisui's stomach. He struck Shisui in the face several times with his other hand, then swiftly gouged out his right eye.

Uchiha Shisui had retreated some distance. Half-kneeling, he stared at Danzo with one hand over his right eye. The pain jolted him back to his senses.

Danzo's movements had been incredibly swift: one heavy punch to the stomach, then three punches at his face from below and from either side. He grabbed Shisui by the hair and hauled him up, then quickly gouged out his right eye. The entire sequence had flowed seamlessly, leaving Shisui stunned.

The main reason was that Shisui hadn't expected Danzo to resist his genjutsu. He'd been caught completely off guard.

Danzo unwound the white bandages around his right eye. Beneath them was a Sharingan—but it soon turned dull and lifeless. Clearly, he'd just used the forbidden technique Izanagi, catching Uchiha Shisui completely off guard.

"Sharingan?" Seeing the Sharingan in Danzo's right eye, Shisui's pupils narrowed. Danzo had now replaced it with the Sharingan he'd taken from Shisui, while several of his subordinates appeared around them.

"Hand over your other Sharingan, too," Danzo said gravely.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Shisui wasn't about to sit still and wait for death. He quickly unleashed the Uchiha clan's signature Fire Release Ninjutsu.

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!" Danzo's subordinates combined their Water Release to counter the flames. The fire evaporated the water, and a vast cloud of steam billowed outward.

When the steam cleared, Uchiha Shisui was nowhere to be seen.

"Body Flicker Technique? After him!" Danzo immediately ordered, and the group took off in pursuit.

Meanwhile, Uchiha Itachi was waiting behind a large rock, apparently for someone.

"Is that you, Shisui?" Hearing a noise, Uchiha Itachi called out at once. He'd been waiting there for Shisui, as they'd agreed beforehand.

"Come with me." Uchiha Shisui said this to Uchiha Itachi and ran forward without looking back. Before long, they reached the edge of a cliff.

"Danzo gouged out my right eye, and they're still looking for me. I don't want them to take my left eye, too. I'm leaving it in your care. Protect the village for me," Uchiha Shisui said calmly. Then he reached up and gouged out his left eye.

"Shisui, you..." Uchiha Itachi felt uneasy.

"Take it. Danzo wasn't entirely in the wrong. He was trying to protect the village, too. I've already written my farewell letter. If I die, they should give up on the coup, at least for now." Uchiha Itachi accepted the eye with a heavy heart as Shisui continued.

Uchiha Shisui was one of the Uchiha clan's pillars. He believed that his death, together with the letter, would make those people abandon their plans for a coup—for the time being.

"Itachi, from now on, I'm entrusting the village's safety to you." With that, Shisui walked to the edge of the cliff.

"Shisui..." Uchiha Itachi called his name and caught him by the arm.

"Itachi, as my friend, I hope you won't stop me. You should understand." With that, Uchiha Shisui jumped from the cliff without hesitation.

"Itachi, protect the village for me," Uchiha Shisui said with another smile. In that moment, he seemed to have found release.

The instant Uchiha Shisui fell to his death, Uchiha Itachi awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan.

"Itachi, what took you so long?" Uchiha Fugaku said with some displeasure. He'd already reminded Uchiha Itachi about the gathering. He was at a loss when it came to this son of his. There was no denying his talent, but the older he got, the more he seemed to oppose his father.

"Shisui killed himself. This is the letter he asked me to give you." Uchiha Itachi spoke calmly, then tossed over the farewell letter Shisui had entrusted to him.

"What? You're saying Shisui killed himself?" Uchiha Fugaku asked, unable to believe his ears.

"Yes." Uchiha Itachi's confirmation left everyone stunned.

"Itachi, what on earth happened?" one of the elders beside him demanded sharply.

"He explained everything in the letter. Read it yourselves." With that, Uchiha Itachi left without looking back. Everyone was reading the letter, and no one paid any attention to his departure.

While Shisui was being hunted and all these things were happening on the Uchiha side, Hyuga Gen was in Hyuga Natsu's room, telling her a story.

The day before, while out shopping, Hyuga Gen had noticed that the clothes here were rather conservative. There were almost no hot pants or miniskirts. Short skirts did exist, but their hems were long; even the shortest only came a little above the knees. What surprised Hyuga Gen, though, was that they had qipao here.

They had maid outfits, but no sailor uniforms, as well as all kinds of stockings. Hyuga Gen felt a little regretful; he'd actually wanted to see the stockings.

After shopping for most of the day and buying quite a few things, Hyuga Gen had thought of Hyuga Natsu's mother, Hyuga Mikoto, and asked Hyuga Natsu to help pick out two outfits for her. He still needed to get on his future mother-in-law's good side.

As it happened, Hyuga Mikoto had invited Hyuga Gen to stay for dinner that day. When he was about to leave after the meal, Hyuga Natsu pulled him into her room and asked him to tell her a story.

Hyuga Natsu lay on her stomach on the bed, swinging her legs and propping her chin on her hands as she listened intently to Hyuga Gen's story about a monkey.

Hyuga Gen, meanwhile, was somewhat distracted, as if something had caught his attention. Look closely, and you'd see his eyes following Hyuga Natsu's swinging, snow-white feet.

"Brother Gen, that monkey can travel a hundred and eight thousand li in one somersault. He's amazing! I wish I could do a somersault that took me a hundred and eight thousand li," Hyuga Natsu said enviously.

"Why's that?" Hyuga Gen asked.

"Then I could go all over the place. It'd be so convenient. I want to see the world, too," Hyuga Natsu said wistfully.

"When the world is at peace, I'll take you around to all sorts of places whenever I have time," Hyuga Gen said earnestly.

"Really? I'm going to hold you to that." Hyuga Natsu sounded delighted, but then seemed to think of something and grew downcast.

"But will the world ever really be at peace? How long will it take?" She knew that ever since the hidden villages had been established, wars had never stopped.

"It will. Within twenty years at the latest." Hyuga Gen knew that after the Fourth Great Ninja War, peace would return to the ninja world, and relations among the Five Great Nations would improve. That would count as peace.

Just as Hyuga Natsu was about to say something, Hyuga Mikoto called from outside, urging Hyuga Gen to leave. It was getting late.

"By the way, Brother Gen, next time, you don't have to keep staring at my feet. If you want to touch them, just go ahead. It's not like you haven't touched them before. I don't mind," Hyuga Natsu said suddenly, just before Hyuga Gen left the room.

Hyuga Gen fled in a panic. He really had touched her feet when they'd washed them together before—but had he been five or six then?